Moral Resources, Political Capital and the Development of Environmental Protection Organizations in China: A Case Study of City J

This article combines the moral resources and political capital perspective with the theoretical arguments of guanxi and resource dependence theory to explore the strengths and weaknesses of both the Chinese government-organized and the grassroots environmental protection organizations (ENPOs). Qualitative methods were applied in this study, and the impact of these two entities on environmental protection was also analyzed. The findings mainly include: First, the ascribed political capital can ensure good guanxi with governmental departments, and thus improve an NPO’s opportunities to receive resources. Second, although the ascribed political capital enables government-organized ENPOs to run smoothly, their transparency and management need to be improved. Third, though grassroots ENPOs have little of political capital, they possess advantages in terms of the self-chosen moral resource, which can help them become relatively independent from the government and assume responsibility for monitoring the environment. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for policy highlighted by the findings.